Holidays at the Burrow
by Claykalin
Summary: No family holiday is complete without the family drama, and this time it's a little close to home for Roxanne, not that she acts like she cares. And if that's not enough, the papers have been following recent attacks and murders with the Auror Office far from catching the people responsible. But Roxanne's family are easily distracted - anyone say Quidditch? Oneshot.


**Holidays at the Burrow**

No family holiday is complete without the family drama, and this time it's a little close to home for Roxanne, not that she acts like she cares. And if that's not enough, the papers have been following recent attacks and murders, with the Auror Office far from catching the people responsible. But Roxanne's family are easily distracted - anyone say Quidditch?

**_A/N: _**_Hi there! This is a one-shot written for Task Two of the Fanfiction Wizard Tournament Competition. A story based around any Next-Gen, in this case Roxanne, using the setting of the Burrow, the genre "friendship", and the emotion "excited" (though it's not very direct, and it changes between positive and negative excitement)_

_This is the first time I've ever tried to write a next-gen fic so hopefully it's turned out alright. I tried looking through other fics to see how they've been written, and there's a lot of variation as to how old some of the kids are. You know what? I have no idea what I'm doing :\_

_Anyways - enjoy! And if you really liked it you can always leave a review! :)_

_****__Disclaimer: __The following story is based on the excellent works of J.K. Rowling, the characters mentioned are not mine. Except for Ronnie, Kristian and Lena._

_**Also**: Being Australian, I may have a few spelling variations to what you may or may not be used to, just skim over them and try not to let them get to you :)_

...

"Did you see the prophet yesterday?" That sounds like Uncle Percy.

"Tragic." Uncle Bill.

"I thought it had stopped." Aunt Ginny.

"Did you see the update this morning?" Uncle Ron

"Of course they haven't, it isn't public information." Uncle Harry. Scuffling sound, he must've hit Uncle Ron. He's his boss now, I think.

"What's happened?" Aunty Hermione.

"They've got a list of suspects." Uncle Ron.

"Three suspects." Uncle Harry.

"And guess who's number one." Uncle Ron.

Silence.

"Malfoy." Uncle Ron again. Does he sound angry or disappointed?

"But he's changed!" Aunt Hermione again. I think she's always had a bit of a soft spot for him. They're both Healers anyway, probably trained together.

"Yeah, I thought so, too." Uncle Percy. He sounds annoyed, but with himself. Typical, he considers himself an excellent judge of character. He's really not.

"Have they got any proof?" Mum. I really wish she hadn't come. She wasn't supposed to be here. Doesn't the League have a member's only dinner tonight?

"Yeah, and it's looking pretty bad for him." Uncle Harry. He sounds sorry for that Malfoy bloke. Funny, I didn't know the two knew each other all that well.

"What'll happen to Astoria?" Uncle Bill. He sounds sorry for her. A little.

"Fuck Astoria, what about poor little Scorpius and his little sister?" That'd be Aunt Ginny.

There's a creak above me and I zone out of the conversation downstairs to listen to the life above me.

The narrow staircase is pitch black, but I hear another soft creak, slightly closer. I slide my wand out and point it at the landing above me.

Again. And again. They're almost at the landing. I think they think they're being quiet by moving slowly, but they're not focusing on the way they tip toe, or the bowing of the wooden steps.

They hit the landing and my adjusted eyes make out my brother, Fred.

"Roxy, what are you doing?" He whispered.

"Listening." I told him.

"Dad's asleep." He told me, coming to sit by me, directly above the living room door behind which the rest of the adults sat up talking. "Think he'll be okay?"

"Not really." I said, looking at him closely. With the faint light streaming through the near-shut door, I can see his worried face. I'm not sure I've ever seen him this low. "But we'll make it through this, okay? Don't you leave me, too."

"Not funny, Rox." He said. "What'd I miss?"

"Uncle Ron let slip some Auror suspects, and Scor's dad's at the top of the list."

"Mr. Marlfoy?" Fred sounded shocked, but thankfully kept his voice low. "He wouldn't. He's a Healer for Merlin's sake!"

I shushed him as his voice rose. He was angry. He has every right to be. No one should accuse someone like Malfoy for yesterday's horrors.

"So Angelina, how've you been?" Aunt Hermione. She doesn't sound interested, just making polite conversation.

"Yeah good." She sounds oblivious. How am I her daughter? I refuse to believe it.

"Stop." Fred said.

"Stop what?" I asked innocently.

"I can see what you're thinking." He's clearly having none of my crap tonight. "Just stop for once, would you?"

I just shrug and return to my previous position, with my head resting against the bannister.

"How's the team?" Uncle Ron. He's more interested in his preciously pathetic Chudley Cannons than mum's team; the Pride of Portree. It really sucks because I liked that team before she was a part of their line-up.

"Yeah, it's looking good, thanks Ron." She's grateful of the topic suggestion. "Reckon we'll get in the top four this year. If Harris and Thom can keep up, they struggle in games more than a couple of hours."

She's lying. Huh, didn't think she had it in her. She's giving Uncle Ron false information, because he'll pass it on to his friend Mayer, the Cannons Team Manager.

"Thom, hey? I thought he was getting traded to Kenmare, Sutton wanted their chaser Jones?"

"Nah, Jones didn't want a part of it so the deal fell through."

I think I can hear Uncle Ron's brain whirring.

"Subtle, isn't he?" Fred whispered.

Fred's a Gryffindor, but I'm a Slytherin, and over the years we've rubbed off on each other. I like to think we've created the ultimate prankster in him, and the ultimate spy in me.

"I can't believe it," Uncle Ron's still going. "They were offering a great pay rise –"

"Alright enough." Aunt Ginny has snapped. "Why are you here, Angelina?"

She doesn't get a reply fast enough.

"No one sent you an invite." Bill said. "No one _would_ have; you broke him, Angelina. I didn't even think that was possible anymore, but you _broke_ him."

She spluttered and muttered before giving a loud sigh. "I just wanted to see them, okay?"

"Yeah well we don't want to see you!" Fred suddenly shouted. Dammit. I smacked him in the back of his head before we ran upstairs.

"Are you nuts?!" I hissed, once we were safely in our room and the door locked and sealed ten times by yours truly. "We could have heard so much more."

"I don't want to listen to her, and you don't either." He looked so dejected, so I just pulled him in for a hug and we stood quietly for a while. _She_ came up after not too long, and knocked and called for I don't know how long, I blocked out her voice so she wouldn't wake dad.

"If she left us," Fred whispered, still holding me tightly. "Why is she here?"

"Because she regrets leaving?" I guessed. I've thought about how her mind had been working that day, but there are too many directions her mind could have taken, and I don't know her, yes I don't know my own _mother_, well enough to make accurate assumptions of her thoughts. "She thinks she can still be our mum without having dad around."

"Maybe she never did love him." Fred sat down on his camp bed, and I lay out on mine beside his. "They were only together because they loved Uncle Fred so much, right? Guess she finally realised they're not the same person."

"Stop it." I told him. "Just go to sleep, we'll worry about tomorrow when it comes."

I think he nodded. Either way, he was silent after that, and soon he was snoring away. Precious Gryffindors, happy to tackle problems if and when they come, never preparing.

…

I was the first to wake the next morning. Fred was snoring away, and drooling on his pillow. Dad lay still in his bed, the sheets rising and falling slowly as he breathed. He is only ever peaceful in his sleep, no matter what Fred and I try.

On my other side lay my friend Ronnie. Her parents died when she was young, and before Hogwarts she'd lived in London with her Muggle cousins, though both her parents were magical. We became close friends during first year and after finding out she planned to stay at Hogwarts over Christmas break, I dragged her home with me. Since then she's remained permanently attached to our family, and my father organised with the Ministry to officially adopt her in our second year.

Now it's my fifth year, and I'm glad I have her around. She's in Slytherin, too, and takes the exact same subjects as me, except I take Ancient Runes and she takes Divination. I've never believed in it, but she insists it does work when you're patient enough with it. Ha.

Her eyes opened and she smiled up at me.

"Morning." She yawned, stretching her arms before sitting up. "How'd last night go?"

"As well as I said it would." I said. "Hopefully she's gone."

Ronnie nodded, and we both got up to grab our things and head for the bathrooms. There are two bathrooms on the landing above us, but they're the only two in the whole Burrow, not including the master bedroom's en suite, and that's out of bounds. Since _everyone_ is here for the next two weeks, being up early is the only time we can guarantee a shower.

Being the lovely person I am, I took my time in the shower, and when I was finished, I opened the door to find Molly, Dominique and Lucy and sitting on the steps, whilst Aunt Hermione and Aunt Ginny stood by the stairs leading up, chatting away.

"Take your time, Roxanne." Molly said, standing up in a huff and marching towards the bathroom I'd just freed. Self-righteous brat.

"Um, no." Aunt Ginny said, stopping Aunt Hermione mid-sentence as she addressed Molly. "Dominique was waiting before you, and either way, I need to go down and help with breakfast so I'm next."

Before Molly could verbalise her indignance, Aunt Ginny had shut the door behind her. I may or may not have laughed before heading back to my room.

Downstairs, I found already helping Grandma prepare breakfast. Fred and James were there, too, but they definitely hadn't volunteered. Grandma realised a couple of years ago that preparing any meal "the Muggle way" made for excellent bonding time with her Grandkids, and since there are so many of us, I can hardly blame her for grabbing all the chances she can get.

Grandma immediately directed Ronnie and I to take all the plates and bowls outside, where Kristian and Teddy have been setting up tables and chairs.

Outside, however, we found the two using there wands to levitate two tables in a big mid-air fight. There was a thunderous bang as the two flat surfaces hit each other, before Grandma Molly came out carrying a tray of milk jugs.

She looked angry for a moment and opened her mouth to start telling them off, then she stopped. She froze, and Fred, behind her with a similar tray, managed to catch the tray she let fall as she started crying.

Aunty Fleur saw the whole thing from where she and her sister were talking, and she calmly led her mother-in-law away, muttering as she went and rubbing her shoulder.

"What was that all about?" James asked, bringing his burdens to the table Kristian placed back on the ground.

"Dunno," Fred said. "Aunty Fleur said to just keep setting up breakfast, everyone will be down soon."

"Kristian, do you know?" I asked. My cousin had wandered over to make sure the table had landed in a spot it wouldn't wobble on, and began conjuring chairs around it.

"Nope." He said, though he looked a little embarrassed.

"You sure?" I prodded.

"I… Look, it was something my dad told me. He said they used to do it when they were our age, and he's right it was fun. We knocked Victoire's table out real quick, though Uncle Ron was in for the long run."

"So she's just nostalgic." James said, shoving his hands in his pockets. It was a little chilly outside.

"Who used to do it?" Fred said suddenly. He looked at me thoughtfully.

"Uncle Fred?" I whispered, and Kristian nodded in confirmation.

"Guess you won't be doing that anytime soon?" Molly asked, marching over with her hands in fists. "Father told me what you were all up to; I can't _believe _you would be so irresponsible. You're ruining _everything_. Kristian, father says you act just like Uncle Charlie, not a care in the world. You should have _known_ it would upset Grandma Molly. What if Uncle George had walked out to see it? He's had it hard enough as it is and you all-"

"Go away, Molly." Fred said, stepping forwards to stand right in front of her. She's in seventh year, but Fred and I are tall for our age so he stands over her easily. "_You're_ ruining everything."

Molly stammered a little before shooting a filthy glance my way (I am often the one directing Fred's anger, though not this time) and storming back to Uncle Percy.

"Where's Uncle Charlie, then?" James asked.

"Fixing the tent." Kristian laughed. "It rained a lot last night, the three of us managed to stay dry but the tent took in a lot of water. Dad's been vanishing the water and looking for any holes."

"All good!" came Uncle Charlie's voice, he came around the house with a wave, and told us he wished he knew how to build an extra room here, but the Burrow looks unstable enough as it is. Uncle Charlie, Kristian, and Teddy are happy to share a tent in the front garden every year, and this year is the first time they've ever had a problem.

Breakfast was the usual affair of fighting for seats with certain people and away from others. Fred, Ronnie and I like sitting with dad, Uncle George and Kristian, where Kristian tells us all of his amazing stories of fighting with dragons. Lucy often joins us, because we're the one group her sister and dad won't join.

"Hey Neeka," Fred asked, using his special nickname for Ronnie. "Tomorrow's Christmas, got all your presents yet?"

Fred thought Ronnie wasn't a good shortening of Veronica, and somehow arrived at Neeka. But that's _his_ nickname for her; no-one else is allowed to use it. He treats her like the little sister he never had. I mean, I'm his little sister by sixteen seconds, but I don't need taking care of. Ronnie needs someone like Fred to lean on.

"Yeah, and they're well hidden thanks so don't bother." Ronnie stuck her tongue out at him, and Fred acted offended.

"You dare suggest I'd spoil my surprise?" Fred held his hand to his heart, acting truly insulted.

"You dare suggest you wouldn't?" She retorted.

"I dare suggest I… might be curious… as to what may awaiteth me…?"

"Do you even know what you just said?" Kristian laughed.

"Nope." Fred said. "Hey were's Grandad?"

"He's been at the Ministry all morning," Dad said, "with Harry and Ron."

"Have they made any arrests?" I asked, hoping Scor's family Christmas would be safe at least. Scor and his little sister Castella had made lots of plans, and even made their parents sign something saying they weren't allowed to ditch any of it. I love my House.

"A body was found at a Muggle train station last night." Uncle Charlie said, looking unusually grim. "The same style of blade was left in the body, only this time there was a note attached to it."

"Saying?" I prodded after he fell silent.

"It was just a symbol; a rune that roughly translates to _traitor_."

"Traitor? Who was it?" Fred asked, his mouth full of food. Looking at Uncle Charlie's face, I had a bad feeling.

"I can't remember who it was."

He's lying. That can't be good, it takes a lot to get Uncle Charlie down.

…

After breakfast, us kids packed up the plates and leftovers whilst most of the adults flooed to the Ministry, after a summons came from Minister Shacklebolt himself. Only Uncle Charlie, Aunt Ginny and dad stayed behind. Luna and Rolf came over just before they left and went with them, leaving Lorcan and Lysander with us.

I was a little worried about what was going on, I mean, why summon half the family in? Is someone in danger?

Uncle Charlie, however, saw fit to distract us all with the suggestion of a Quidditch match. He headed one team and Aunt Ginny took the other, with dad refereeing.

There was an uneven amount, so it was decided that Aunt Ginny, being the only professional Quidditch player here, would count as two, despite her protests that Uncle Charlie was "just as bloody good as Harry."

Ronnie, Fred and I joined Aunt Ginny, along with her kids James, Albus and Lily, Teddy, and the Scamander Boys. It's funny how they live right over the meadow, but we don't see them that often; they're usually away on trips hunting mythical insects. But hey, they enjoy themselves.

Lysander's pretty keyed in, though, and he's a Slytherin so that would account for my ability to tolerate his musings. Lorcan, on the other hand, is my ultimate test in patience, and one I fail at a lot as I've broken his nose more times than I can count. _Hufflepuff_. I don't have anything against Hufflepuffs, heck Lucy's a Hufflepuff and she's just the sweetest girl, but Lorcan? He's an _idiot_.

That left Uncle Charlie with his boy Kristian, Rose and Hugo, Molly and Lucy (though Molly originally tried to skip out of our game), Victoire, Dominique and Louis, and Gabrielle's two girls Coletta and Una.

Coletta's at Beauxbatons, and the two live in France, but they come here for a visit in most holidays so are fluent in both French and English, though Una is only nine so sometimes she'll forget which language is which and her sentences come out as half-English half-French, or French words with an English sentence structure. It's the cutest thing, especially when she doesn't realise it.

Our Quidditch match evolved from a traditional match minus the bludgers and snitch (we'd just loose it), until Fred suggested we get another Quaffle to make things interesting. Aunt Ginny had a bit of an internal battle as we tore apart her sacred game, but she still had fun.

Ronnie scored a couple goals in a row, and on the way to score her third was knocked from her broom by Kristian. He hadn't meant to do it, but she's not the most capable flyer, so the little bump he gave her set her balance off and she slipped.

Charlie caught her and she was fine, but I sat out with her for a few minutes whilst she calmed down. Fred came down too, and insisted he could take care of her, so I rejoined the game.

I felt guilty, I mean, she's _my_ friend, but Fred has this state where he thinks Ronnie is his responsibility, and I find it just easier to let him look after her. I think it helps him inside. After mum left and everything, he just wants to be needed. He needs to be worth something.

I managed to score a few goals myself, including one that Dominique nearly leapt off of her broom to stop. She looked so frustrated; it was beautiful. Dom's Keeper of the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team, and since starting Sixth Year this year, she's also the Captain. So she takes our games a _little _too seriously.

After a while of serious scoring, our team was leading by… several goals. Anyway, we started playing easier, and giving the ball to the younger kids, letting them have a go.

It's adorable watching little Hugo and Lily fly somewhat straight on their little brooms and trying to balance the Quaffle, and James hovers in front of the goals acting all intimidating.

"You think you'll ever get that ball past _me_, Hugo?" He taunts

"You watch me." Hugo says defensively. He stops moving and clumsily holds the Quaffle behind two hands, setting up an aim for the right goal post.

James starts laughing like Dracula and flexing his fingers, moving steadily back and forth. Hugo thrusts the ball forward, and just as the ball leaves his fingertips, James starts coughing.

"Ugh! I swallowed a fly!"

Behind Hugo, Uncle Charlie is pointing his wand at the Quaffle, sending it straight through the hoop.

Charlie's team gives a big cheer, and they all fly to Hugo and there's a big group hug. Meanwhile, James continues to act as though he's swallowed a fly and demands a re-try. Una gets it.

James puts on a similar show of scaring her, but she starts laughing to the point where Aunt Ginny moves beside her to help her keep balance. James starts making poses as though for a magazine shoot, proclaiming himself to be the "Mighty James: The Keeper Feared Amongst All" and it sends Una in to a fit of giggles.

Eventually she throws the ball towards the middle hoop, and James acts to fly straight for it before his foot slips off of the bar and his broom angles down and straight into one of the posts. Once again, Charlie made sure she scored a goal, and dad blew his whistle to mark it.

I think we were playing for another few hours, and by then had found every Quaffle we could so there were six in use, causing Dom to make her brother Louis help Keep with her, and Albus and Lily joined James' defence of our goals.

Dad called an end to the game after several stomach's, including mine, began rumbling, and we headed back to the Burrow for some lunch.

Charlie and Kristian cooked up some sausages and made some special sauce that Kristian's mum Lena used to make for them. It had onion and tomatoes in it, and garlic, and some weird spices Charlie collects when he visits Peru.

We couldn't be bothered resetting all the tables outside (we'd packed them away after breakfast, otherwise the garden gnomes start chewing away at the table legs) so everyone split up to eat.

Fred, Ronnie and I went up to our room and climbed out the window to sit on the tiled roof. Lysander came and joined us after a while, he'd been sitting in the garden with Lorcan, James, Teddy, Victoire and Louis, and apparently was in the process of zoning out of James' talk on a girl in their class when he noticed us on the roof.

"Fascinating man to listen to, he is." Lysander said, nodding in the vague direction of the group below us before taking a large bite out of his sausage roll.

"You don't have to live with him, at least." Ronnie said with a smile.

"No, but I live with my brother, who worships James." Lysander scowled.

"Hey Ronnie," I said. "Want to go to Diagon Alley this afternoon?"

"But it's a week from Christmas!" Ronnie exclaimed. "It'll be nuts, full of people!"

"Exactly, Neeka!" Fred said, jumping up. "Makes for perfect pranks, it's easy to disappear into the crowd, and anything that's not selling fast enough gets discounted."

"I was thinking we drag dad along?" I suggested, looking at Fred. "Maybe get him in the shop for the afternoon. It'd be a good distraction for him."

Fred nodded and climbed back into our room to go find dad.

"So… what happened last night?" Ronnie asked. She'd gone to bed early after being tripped on the stairs by James and Louis and hitting her head. It was an accident, but those two are the cause of a lot of accidents.

"Er, mum showed up." I told her. "And she set dad off, they had a bit of a row and dad stormed off to bed, Fred went with him. She tried to talk to me, asked me how school was, laughed about the Gryffindor snitch fumble back in the first match. That was the last time I saw her, and it wasn't too long after that that she broke things off with dad."

"How dare she." Ronnie said, looking disgusted. "Thinking she can just show up and act like you're all best friends."

I hummed in agreement, before Fred stuck his head up out of our window. "Dad's good to go, come on."

...

The five of us flooed straight to Weasley Wizard Wheezes after that (Lysander came, too). Dad happily lost himself in running the shop, chatting away with customers and making up bargains as he went for people buying lots of things for their kids.

He had a few serious conversations with Graham, who runs the shop when dad can't. From what I managed to hear, a couple of kids had been caught stealing, including a sixth year girl who had slipped a love potion into her pocket, but the bottle started screaming when she walked out without paying for it.

We left him to it and headed to Flourish and Blotts. It was a mad house in there, even on the second floor where there's usually never more than ten people.

"Hey Neeka!" Fred exclaimed, running to pick up a new release book. "It's the sequel to the book your reading! _Following the accusations of Dean in the last book, it's time for _-"

"WHY would you do that?!" Ronnie cried, whacking the side of his head. "You know I haven't finished!"

"Oh," Fred said innocently. "I thought you had, my mistake. Does that mean you don't know Amy has died?"

Ronnie gave a shout and jumped on Fred, smacking and pinching at every bit of skin she could. "What is _wrong_ with you? You can't _do_ that!"

Lysander looked worried, whilst I may or may not have been too busy laughing at Ronnie's pain to help Fred. Or to point out that Fred was lying, having already read the book myself.

Oh well.

"Ouch!"

"_Chinese burn_!"

"Neeka, I was kidding! OW!"

They were still struggling when I noticed a newspaper stand, with several different photos of the Malfoy family, proclaiming Scor's dad to be responsible for the murders. Draco has been taken in for questioning.

Our parents left us this morning to accuse a Healer for murder.

And the latest victim?

Astoria.

...

**_A/N: _**_Ta-da! Hope you liked it! Let me know what you thought?_

_Sorry for the side plots that go unanswered, I have some ideas for something else and just wanted leave them in here._

_Have a nice day / night / evening :)_


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